» V8s: Whincup tops Sandown prequalifying

Jamie Whincup’s co-driver, Paul Dumbrell, will start from pole position for the co-driver-only sprint race that helps (in part) to determine the grid for Sunday’s Sandown 500 endurance race after the defending champion posted the fastest time in qualifying.

Fresh from posting the quickest time in the day’s earlier practice session, Whincup proved too strong for the rest of the field over the twenty-minute session.

His second flying lap proved good enough for provisional pole position, and despite being bumped from top spot by Will Davison, he returned to the top of the timesheets in the final sixty seconds.

His time of 1:08.6203 lowered the lap-record-breaking time he had set in practice earlier in the day, and came despite his being momentarily held up by Jason Bright as he exited the final corner.

Super rookie driver Chaz Mostert put in a superb lap time to bag the second-fastest time in his Dick Johnson Racing Ford, which he will hand over to co-driver Dale Wood for the opening twenty-lap sprint race.

Scott McLaughlin, Garth Tander, Craig Lowndes, Will Davison, David Reynolds, James Courtney, Tim Slade and Jason Bright rounded out the first five rows of the grid to be claimed by their respective co-drivers.

The session threw up a few surprise results, with one of the biggest disappointments being Mark Winterbottom, who managed just twelfth-fastest and will rely on co-driver Steve Richards to gain some positions in his stint in the car.

The afternoon will see two sixty-kilometre sprint races determine the final starting order for Sunday’s 161-lap major event race. The first will be tackled by the co-drivers to set the grid for the second ‘main driver’ race. The latter’s finishing order will make up the final grid for Sunday’s race.

2013 V8 Supercars Sandown 500 – Preliminary Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	1:08.6203
2.	Chaz Mostert	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.0908
3.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.2097
4.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.2286
5.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.2414
6.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2658
7.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2768
8.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.3247
9.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.3364
10.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.3492
11.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.3533
12.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.3684
13.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.4257
14.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.4438
15.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.5360
16.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.5802
17.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 0.6013
18.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.6307
19.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6574
20.	Jonathon Webb	Darrell Lea Racing / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.7073
21.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.7198
22.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.7226
23.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.7335
24.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.7360
25.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7775
26.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.8409
27.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.8662
EXC.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Disallowed